D&D 5E Temple of Elemental Evil is the next Original Adventures Reincarnated

Goodman Games has announced the next in its line of Original Adventures Reincarnated - -and it's The Temple of Elemental Evil, in late 2020 or early 2021. "Like all of the Original Adventures Reincarnated line, this release will contain both the original material scanned in and cleaned up to present it as it originally appeared, along with a full, new 5E translation in the second half of...

Goodman Games has announced the next in its line of Original Adventures Reincarnated - -and it's The Temple of Elemental Evil, in late 2020 or early 2021.

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"Like all of the Original Adventures Reincarnated line, this release will contain both the original material scanned in and cleaned up to present it as it originally appeared, along with a full, new 5E translation in the second half of the book. The new material is being designed by a creative team led by Chris Doyle with contributions from Rick Maffei and others, all of whom are seasoned veterans of Dungeons and Dragons across its many incarnations.

Unlike the previous five volumes in the OAR line, the sheer size and scope of this module requires something new: OAR #6: The Temple of Elemental Evil will be released as a two-volume hardcover slipcase edition. The two volumes will also contain expert commentary about the original modules and their history."

Here's the back cover text:

EVIL BORN ANEW

The Village of Hommlet thrives again. Years ago, this quaint village nearly fell prey to a great, neighboring evil. The nearby Temple of Elemental Evil, a grand edifice of wickedness, was defeated after a great battle and thrown into ruin forever … or was it? Bandits have started to ride the roads again, and there are other ominous signs afoot. It is whispered that the demonic evil at the heart of the Temple was not truly conquered but merely imprisoned. Even now, agents of evil, malevolent beasts, and far worse creatures are conspiring to return the Temple to power and enslave the surrounding lands. Hommlet and the neighboring ruins may hold clues, but not everyone is to be trusted. Surely danger lies hidden in this idyllic region.

Sharpen your swords and axes. Purchase your iron rations and tinderboxes. And don’t forget at least one 10-foot pole. Great adventure awaits those that dare confront the Temple of Elemental Evil!

This book collection is an homage to the origins of an adventure that began decades ago with T1: The Village of Hommlet and T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil. Herein you will find high-quality scans from multiple printings of the original first edition adventure modules, plus commentary by gaming legends. Full fifth edition conversions of both adventure books are included, as well as brand new adventure material that adds new wilderness encounters, expands the Village of Nulb, fully details the evil Elemental Nodes, and provides fifth edition updates of many original magic items, monsters, and spells. This is a fully playable mega-dungeon and mini-campaign—many hours of classic-style adventure await you!​
 

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Blackmoor would definitely scratch their OD&D/BD&D era itch. They had a brief run of Blackmoor products in the 3E era. I could see them returning to it, either for 5E or DCC, in the future.

I thought I had read somewhere not too long ago that WotC does not own the rights to Blackmoor any more, but I am not sure where I saw it. Maybe even on this site.

Edit: and that 3.x material for Blackmoor was from a 3PP, not WotC.
 
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Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
I played through both the original in 1st edition and return to in 3.5. I enjoyed the immensely but that may have been as much the module as the groups so i have fond memories.

Oh boy. My memories of the 3.5 version vary from "Wow this is awesome" to, in the end, "We're never going to beat this grind, it's impossible." The foes just seemed to be endless. If we left one section of the vast dungeon it would just fill in with more foes. If we built a safe zone in one area, it would be broken down over time and when we returned we'd just find yet more foes. The place had just so many intelligent foes with so many numbers favoring them that it just began to feel like that Paladin in Hell picture from 1e. Like every foe we killed resulted in two taking its place.

I think we failed to focus on the goals and thought we could make the dungeon safe again for the citizens nearby. I think that was an impossible mission, and had we focused on getting to the middle of the dungeon instead of clearing it we might have had a better end to that campaign.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
I thought I had read somewhere not too long ago that WotC does not own the rights to Blackmoor any more, but I am not sure where I saw it. Maybe even on this site.

Edit: and that 3.x material for Blackmoor was from a 3PP, not WotC.
Yeah, the 3E material was licensed from Arneson's own company. He wrote new material for it, as I recall.

Worst case scenario, they could take those files and give them a more deluxe treatment.

Maybe don't call it an OAR book, but do something comparable to it.
 

Scrivener of Doom

Adventurer
I've never understood why this adventure was so popular. T1 was excellent; the rest was an incomplete pastiche that required a lot of work to make it into something coherent. It was also the end of my group being prepared to explore large dungeons. 30+ years later, they still feel the same way.

Like so many things involving EGG, I love the idea; it's just that it needed infinitely better execution.
 

Stormdale

Explorer
"I've never understood why this adventure was so popular. T1 was excellent; the rest was an incomplete pastiche that required a lot of work to make it into something coherent."

100% agree. Have used T1 several times to kick of campaigns and it has always been memorable- last time being to run it with parts of Princes of the Apocalypse.

How many PCs have those frogs got over the years I wonder.

But every time I've tried to run the temple itself has been a real slog and we'e given up. If you can get the T1 part separately then I might consider it but not the whole thing.

Stormdale
 

Rellott

Explorer
Have Goodman Games started doing better “conversions?” I took a look at their first one (Keep on the Borderlands, iirc) and remember thinking and seeing confirmed elsewhere that it was just a 1:1 stat block change from the original. If the original said there were 8 goblins in a room, the new one said that, character level appropriate challenge be darned. Even Tales from the Yawning Portal was a bit guilty of this, iirc.
If all it is is stat block swaps, I have absolutely no need for this product. If it’s legitimately been converted/updated to fall into the 5e ethos of design and mechanics, then I’ll definitely be interested.
 

Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Even Tales from the Yawning Portal was a bit guilty of this, iirc.
If all it is is stat block swaps, I have absolutely no need for this product. If it’s legitimately been converted/updated to fall into the 5e ethos of design and mechanics, then I’ll definitely be interested.

We've been finding Tales from the Yawning Portal plays extremely well in 5e. We're not finding balancing issues at all.
 

Parmandur

Book-Friend
Have Goodman Games started doing better “conversions?” I took a look at their first one (Keep on the Borderlands, iirc) and remember thinking and seeing confirmed elsewhere that it was just a 1:1 stat block change from the original. If the original said there were 8 goblins in a room, the new one said that, character level appropriate challenge be darned. Even Tales from the Yawning Portal was a bit guilty of this, iirc.
If all it is is stat block swaps, I have absolutely no need for this product. If it’s legitimately been converted/updated to fall into the 5e ethos of design and mechanics, then I’ll definitely be interested.

Converting old material on the fly isn't hard: the Goodman products are more useful for the expansion material (their 5E B1 & B2 are tied together eloquently, for instance).
 



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